MEMPHIS, TENN. - The New Orleans Hornets, behind 15 points off the bench from James Posey, outlasted the pesky Memphis Grizzlies to win 91-84 Tuesday night at the FedEx Forum.

Posey's 3-point shot with 3:38 to go in the game erased Memphis' last lead of the evening and gave the Hornets an 81-79 lead, one they would not relinquish.

Chris Paul had 18 points, 10 from the free-thrown line, along with nine assists.

He also tied the NBA record for steals in consecutive games with a first-quarter theft. He had four for the game.

Here are the game updates:

Third quarter

The New Orleans Hornets suffered througha mserable shooting quarter, hitting just 3 of 16 shots, but still lead 61-60 at the end of the third.

Two of the Hornets makes were 3-poiontes, by Rasual Butler and James Posey.

David West had the Hornets other field goal in the period.

Second quarter

The Memphis Grizzlies used an 8-2 run to start the second quarter to get themselves back into the game, though the New Orleans Hornets never trailed in the period and led 49-42 at the break.

New Orleans had a distinct edge at the free-throw line, shooting 23 but hitting only 16 of those shots. The Grizzlies have been to the line just 11 times in the first half, hitting nine.

Memphis' young stars, Rudy Gay )16 points) and O.J. Mayo (12) are carrying the load for the Grizzlies.

First quarter

New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul ended the suspense early, getting a steal with 3:33 to go in the first quarter to tie the NBA record for steals in consecutive games.

The theft came in the middle of a 15-0 Hornets run over the last 6 1/2 minutes of the quarter as they took a 26-11 lead over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Paul's steal came when he and David West battled for a loose ball from Darko Milicic. It's the 105th straight game in which Paul has recorded a steal. He's now tied with Alvin Robertson.

Pregame

Four days of intense treatment was apparently enough to get ailing New Orleans Hornets center Tyson Chandler back on the court for Tuesday night's game here in the FedEx Forum against the Memphis Grizzlies.

After participating in the morning shootaround following yet another treatment session, Chandler moved well enough around the court to pencil himself back into Byron Scott's rotation.

"I'm feeling a little better," Chandler said before the game after an on-court, pre-game warmup that did nothing to convince him he wasn't prepared to play after missing last Friday night's loss to the Boston Celtics and Sunday afternoon's win over the Toronto Raptors. "I'm not 100 percent. But I feel kind of good enough to go.

"I've still got all my range of motion and I feel like it's good enough for me to give it a try."

Earlier Tuesday, Scott seemed resigned to the fact that he'd be without Chandler for a third straight game and was prepared to go with Hilton Armstrong and Melvin Ely in the post.

"I don't think so; he feels a whole lot better but I don't think he'll be able to play tonight," Scott said at first. "He still looks a little stiff. With treatment this morning and tonight there's no telling. It'll probably be a game-time decision. But I would say there's a good possibility he won't be playing tonight."

Scott perhaps was being cautious with an eye toward Wednesday night's nationally televised game in New Orleans Arena against the San Antonio Spurs, the team that eliminated the Hornets in last year's Western Conference semifinals.

But Chandler's effort and freedom of movement during the shootaround convinced him Chandler was ready to play.

"We got a center back," Scott said. "He said he felt pretty good. You're hoping when he gets to running, it really loosens up for him and he'll have no more problems. He wanted to play tonight. So we welcome him back.

"(His movement) wasn't that bad. You really couldn't tell if you didn't know he had hurt the neck already. He didn't seem to favor it in shootaround. So that's a good sign."

Chandler had missed last Friday's game at the Boston Celtics and Sunday afternoon's game at the Toronto Raptors.

Hornets guard Chris Paul needs one steal tonight to tie the NBA record for steals in consecutive games. Paul has a steal in 104 straight games.